


Maid Kei

by chrobins



Series: Grimm's Fairy Tales Inspired [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Grimm's Tales, M/M, Maid Maleen, fairy tale AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-02
Updated: 2015-05-02
Packaged: 2018-03-26 18:37:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3860410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chrobins/pseuds/chrobins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by the Grimm's tale "Maid Maleen." Kei and Kuroo, two princes, wish to wed and unite their kingdoms, but the king of Karasuno despises the kingdom of Nekoma and denies the wedding and locks his only son in a tower for seven years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Maid Kei

There were once two kingdoms that neighbored each other whose Kings did not like each other very much. Karasuno's King had a son who was very beautiful, and he was called Maid Kei. He pleaded with his father to make peace to the other kingdom. But his father would not listen. Then, one day, a prince from the neighboring kingdom of Nekoma came to offer peace and to marry the beautiful Maid Kei of Karasuno. But the King despised Nekoma and did not agree to the marriage. Kei found that he very much liked the prince of Nekoma and stood her ground to marry the prince who had travelled for many days alone to offer his peace.

But the King wouldn't let the marriage happen and had Maid Kei locked up in a dark tower with no windows or doors. "Therein shalt thou be imprisoned for seven years, and then I will come see if thy perverse spirit is broken." Maid Kei's servant, Tadashi, had brought meat and water for seven years into the tower, but the servant too was locked up with Kei, the opening covered with stones so that they could not escape. They sat in darkness, and neither of them could tell if it was day or night. When the prince knew that his love had been imprisoned, he circled around the tower multiple times for weeks, calling out his name many times, but he heard nothing. It was then that the prince had given up and returned to his home country, but he promised he would never forget the beauty of Maid Kei.

As time passed, both Kei and Tadashi could tell the seven years were coming to an end as their food supply was diminished quite a bit. And when they expected the stones to be broken free so that they could be set free, no one came. It was then that Kei knew that the King had forgotten about his son. And as their food and water became almost none, he feared that their deaths would come soon and quickly. "We must try our last chance," Kei began as he turned to his servant Tadashi, "and see if we can break through the wall." Kei took the bread-knife and picked at the mortar of the stone. They took turns when they got tired, and within the day, they had managed to push one stone through. Their confidence surged and they were able to push out enough stones until they could fit through the opening.

The blue sky and crisp wind was a small reward that neither of they had seen or felt in seven years. But their happiness only lasted a short while as they saw that the once great kingdom of Karasuno had turn to ruin, pillaged and destroyed and desolate. There were no humans in the castle, and Kei realized why no one had come to rescue them. With their kingdom gone, where could they go? Neither of them knew which direction to head into. Kei decided to head West, and they went in search of food. However neither of them were able to get even scraps; they had not bathed or been properly clothed for years and no one wanted to help them. Desperate, the pair settled on killing game with their bare hands and foraging berries in the woods.

Kei had brought over a wild hare to where Tadashi was sitting. The freckled servant looked cold and scared. Kei frowned. "Tadashi, chin up." The blonde prince kept his tone firm. "We survived seven years alone with minimal food and no light. We had no showers and we lived in that filth for too long. And we escaped, broke our way out of stone and mortar with a bread-knife. And here we are, in the middle of the woods, rejected and ignored by the villagers who used to give praise to my father each day, eating bloody animals and possibly poisonous berries. But Tadashi, we are alive. We will find work, we will bathe, and we can live again like we used to. We can both find our fairy tale princes like in the books and we can be happy again." Kei sat down and started cutting up the hare with a old spearhead he found on the floor.

Tadashi had straightened up his posture then, ignoring the blood on the hare meat that he was so used to eating cooked. Kei was a prince, growing up in the castle being pampered as such until he was a young teen and locked away for seven years. Even being a servant, Tadashi had luxuries that he didn't know he had until he spent those seven years with Kei. And they had bonded, taking care of each other as they survived. If Kei was going to be strong, then he had to as well. So when his share of hare meat was finished, he set out in search of firewood to keep them warm in the winter nights.

When the sun peeked out over the horizon, Kei and Tadashi woke, stamped out the fire and kept heading West in search of someone that could help them. And finally, there was a young boy they met on the outskirts of another kingdom that said there was work to be done inside the royal palace. However, they did not know the name of this kingdom and did not care. Servants tended to them immediately and bathed them and clothed them into plain clothes. But it was straight to dish cleaning after that, because there was a grand dinner to be held that evening. The prince was getting married tomorrow and there was royalty coming to witness the wedding from all corners of the lands.

However, Kei had heard no talk about his kingdom of Karasuno. It was truly gone and no one had remembered his home at all. He felt a little heartbroken by that. Maybe, if his father had agreed to the marriage, there could have been peace and he would have been living happily ever after. He had been so lost in thought that he had forgotten where he was heading in the large palace and he had gotten lost. Wandering alone and nervous, he stumbled upon a door that was slightly ajar. His curiosity got the better of him and peeked inside. And Kei was surprised at what he saw.

The young boy they had met just outside the kingdom walls was sitting on a grand bed, fiddling with some marbles. Startled by Kei's sudden presence, the boy turned around with red cheeks, embarrassed that he had been playing a child's game. But Kei did not see it as such. "I have wanted to thank you properly for taking me and my ser--friend in and finding us work." Kei bowed properly, as he should, but the boy with the pudding hair gasped. Kei looked up nervously, wondering if his manners had been rude.

"I know you." The boy says, standing off the bed and approaching the former prince. "You are royalty, that much I know. No servant bows with such grace." Kei grows red in the face. "But the state in which you arrived, and the fact that you are not here to celebrate the birth of a new king..." The boy lights up in curiosity. "You are the rumored Maid Kei, the beautiful prince from the kingdom of Karasuno, are you not?" The former prince grimaces, noting that he wouldn't be able to sway the boy's mind, so he nods in response.

Kei was about to speak but the boy interrupts him. "My name is Kenma. I'm going to be betrothed to the prince tomorrow, though neither of us really want to. But the prince has found no suitable suitor and the King is growing old." Kenma rocks on his toes and heels. "The prince and I have been friends for years, but I don't love him. And he doesn't love me." He gives Kei a faint smile. "You should take my place. Will you marry him for me?" Kei starts; he doesn't know what to do. His heart still belongs to the prince of Nekoma, but he had probably married someone else by now. His love for the prince he fell in love with was just a pipe dream. "You and your friend can live in comfort here in the castle."

Now that certainly piqued his interest. Tadashi could be comfortable again. Over the seven years they spent together, they had bonded over the misery. They were no longer "prince and servant" but rather two humans, two friends, trying to survive. And he was certain that Tadashi was probably thankful that he is able to do such a thing like wash dishes after what they had been through, but he promised Tadashi that the both of them would find their magical princes and live happily ever after. And this situation seemed too good to be true; how could Kenma give up the marriage so easily? Kei could not understand.

"Why would you go so far for...someone like me?" Kenma smiled.

"You will find the answer in time." There was a knock at the door. "Go, forth. The hand maidens do not yet know who I am. They will get you nice clothing fit for a wedding." Kenma smiles and pushes him to the door. Kei hesitantly opens in and is whisked away before he can barely manage a thank you. But Kenma smiles and closes the door and retreats to his game of marbles; he does not need thanks; just satisfying his best friend's true wishes is enough for him.

Kei is brought to a grand dressing room, stripped of his rags and washed down as they brought the ribbons all around his body to measure him perfectly so the beautiful white garments would fit him like a glove. His hair was tousled, looking for the right style. And when it was all done, he was given nicer sleepwear and sent back to Kenma's room. But when he returned, the pudding boy was not there. Frowning, Kei turned back to the servant's quarters in search of Tadashi. And when he did lay eyes upon his freckled friend, he dragged him away to Kei's new room and relayed all that he had been through that day.

Hearing the news, Tadashi was ecstatic that his friend was finally going to get married. But Kei was still nervous about marrying some stranger he didn't even know. But for Tadashi's sake he'd do it; to keep his friend safe. So the two of them fell asleep in the grand bed that night, dreaming of the hopes and dreams they had, almost unbelieving that it was happening so soon. And they had half-expected everything to be a dream when they awoke, but then the palace and the kingdom was alive with joy and the anticipation of a new King.

Kei and Tadashi were separated, the former being whisked away to be dolled up for the wedding and the latter to prepare for the joyous wedding celebration to be held that day. For Kei, time had gone by so quickly that he barely remembered what had transpired only hours go, before he was walking down the hallway to wed the prince. People around them were cheering, welcoming the blonde beauty with enthusiasm.

Fearing the worst, Kei had not looked up from the ground. One, he did not want to trip, but two, he feared what his new spouse would look like, or act like. As he stood upon the steps across from the prince, he heard a gasp of shock coming from him, which in turn caused Kei to glance up reflexively. And he too gasped, for the man standing in front of him was none other that the prince of Nekoma, the prince Kei had fallen in love with seven years ago. But as they stared at each other, their vows were spoken and a ring was brought hastily to Kei's fingers that before either of them knew it, the audience was waiting in anticipation for the kiss that would seal their bond into one.

The two princes shared at long, romantic gaze and they both realized what great fortune they came upon to finally be wed like they had longed for so many years ago. And when the veil was lifted from Kei's face, warm, gentle hands cupped his face as the prince of Nekoma kissed him with fervor, the longing for each other that had not diminished in even seven years of being apart, of thinking that the other was gone and out of reach.

Their lips parted but the hands on Kei's face remained. Despite the crowd cheering with joyous delight, Kei focused on the prince's voice. "If my eyes are not deceiving me, and if I am not already passed along to Heaven, and if I had not drank too much from the barrel this morning, I would dare say that standing before me, today, on my very wedding day, that I am gazing into the eyes of the one who captured my heart seven years ago, the only, Maid Kei."

Kei smiles brightly. "Your eyes are not deceiving you, though maybe you have drunk too much wine this morning, I can tell you this much, that I am indeed Maid Kei, and I have survived seven years in that dark tower, and I broke out, surviving in the woods, looking for work until I came here and chanced upon your gracious friend whose place I took to marry you here, in your kingdom." Kei's hands intertwine with the prince's as the walk down the aisle outside to spread to the entire kingdom of their happy wedding. "I can only thank the gods that you and I were able to meet again." The prince, now king, of Nekoma frowns.

"But Maid Kei, it was at the cost of your people. Another kingdom declared war and overturned your kingdom in a matter of days, and I could do nothing but weep, as I was sure they had killed you too. But I too thank the gods that you are alive and well and sharing my life and Kingdom with me." Kei smiles and plants a kiss upon his cheek, which in then turns red from embarrassment. Neither of them were quite used to such affection such yet.

From the crowd, Kei spots his friend Tadashi and the pudding-boy waving and smiling, wishing the two new kings good fortune. And in that moment, with his true love by his side, and his friends wishing him a happy marriage, Kei deems it as the happiest moment in his entire life.

**Author's Note:**

> Please tell me what you think! <3


End file.
